


Names

by BiJane



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Clark is also a dork, Established Relationship, F/F, Kara is a dork, Romantic Fluff, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-29
Updated: 2016-10-29
Packaged: 2018-08-27 15:11:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,031
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8406472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BiJane/pseuds/BiJane
Summary: ‘You look lovely today, oh and by the way I’m Supergirl.’‘Who has two thumbs and is an alien whose cousin your brother tried to kill?’‘Hi Lena! Thanks for the super dinner. Speaking of super…’
Kara had no idea how she was meant to have this conversation.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So somehow I ended up shipping these two to an unhealthy degree. Had to write something, and here we are.

Kara was never going to get used to dinners with Lena. For Kara, most things that weren’t home-cooked tended to be takeaways or, if she was trying to impress, a nice enough restaurant near her apartment that she and Alex often went to on days out.

Lena took her to places she’d never needed to have heard of, though. One course cost as much as a meal for three or four at Kara’s usual places.

And it was worth the price; especially as Lena was never one to split the bill.

“I like to impress,” Lena said. “No need for you to spend money when I’ve got more than I know what to do with. Let me treat my girlfriend.”

And then Kara had gotten all flustered, and nearly forgotten she was meant to keep her feet on the ground, at the word ‘girlfriend,’ but that was a whole other story.

Unlike most dates though, both parties kept needing to check their phones. Lena was in such a turbulent time with L-Corp that she needed to be constantly available, while Kara’s alter-ego was always in demand.

The one thing that Kara was less used to than the posh restaurants, was needing to hurry out with a garbled excuse when she heard about a new meta-human or alien.

And the uncertain way Lena looked at her when she had to flee made Kara feel unutterably guilty. It just wasn’t fair; Lena put so much effort into all of this, and Kara could only stick around for maybe half the dates.

Admittedly it had some advantages. They hadn’t needed to have the sex talk at least, Kara wasn’t quite sure how that was going to go. Humans were strange when it came to that.

It was one of those memories that it was impossible to lose. One of the few times Superman had visited her when she was growing up was to warn her of dangers with getting close to humans, and it had been just as mortifying for each of them.

Kryptonians were strong on earth. Said strength wouldn’t translate well to certain muscle spasms or emissions; that was about as far as Kara had gotten through the talk before running and flying out the window.

Humans put so much importance on as sex as part of a relationship though. She liked Lena, without question, and while Kara knew in theory a no ought to be a no, it felt like Lena deserved more detail. If that was something they might never be able to do, mostly, she deserved a reason.

Humans had such weird focuses when it came to relationships. Sex, gender… Kara had done what she could to figure it out, before eventually throwing her hands in the air and giving up.

And it was a reason Kara couldn’t tell her; on top of the real reason she kept running out of dinner dates.

Relationships in general were complicated. Kryptonian and human relationships, where one party didn’t know everything about the other, went way beyond that. It was just yet another obstacle.

The morning after, Kara called Hank to make sure nothing urgent was going on, before jumping out her window and flying off to Metropolis.

It was easy enough to find the Daily Planet. Kara quickly changed in an alley, before entering the building from the ground floor, and asking around for Clark Kent’s floor desk.

“Kara!” he said, as soon as he saw her. Quickly he put down the mess of papers her was holding, just managing to catch one before it blew away. “Good to see you. What are you doing here?”

“I- uh, I kinda wanted your advice,” Kara said. “Wanted to talk in person.”

“Ok,” Clark said. “I can take my lunch break early. Is it the kind of talk we can have surrounded by people?”

“Probably not,” Kara said.

“Then see you on the roof,” Clark said. “Five minutes?”

Kara nodded, and hurried out of the busy offices of the Daily Planet. She made it around to an alley, then leapt off the ground, landing neatly on the roof of the building.

It certainly didn’t look as though many people went there. It probably was a good place for a meeting.

She walked over to a small raised edifice, sitting down on the edge. She didn’t have long to wait before Clark arrived.

“So, Kara, how can I help?” Clark said.

“When did you tell Lois?” Kara said.

“What?”

“About you, I mean,” Kara said. “That you were Superman. How did you know you could tell her?”

“Actually I kinda had to tell her I was Clark Kent,” he said, smiling to himself at the memory. “I don’t know, really. It just felt like I could trust her.”

“You just felt it?”

“Yeah,” Clark said. “There’s either that connection, or there’s not. With Lois… I just knew I could trust her, and she deserved to know everything if we were going to make anything of… why?”

“I just… I’ve kinda been seeing someone,” Kara said.

“You have?” Clark said. He turned to her, and beamed. “You didn’t say anything. Can I meet them?”

“You kind of already have.”

“Really?” Clark said. His expression took on a speculative tone; “James? Thought things between you two were still complicated.”

“N-no, not James.”

“Lucy?”

“No.”

“Is it Ca-”

“Clark!” Kara said, suddenly. He blinked, then hesitated, slightly chastened.

“Sorry, got a little excited,” he said. “So, you want to know if you should tell them?”

“I’ve been thinking about it,” Kara said. “I trust her. And it’s not really fair to keep skipping out on dates, especially when I’m terrible with excuses at the best of times. I don’t want her to think she means less to me than she does, and…”

“Tell her,” Clark said. “You can trust your judgement.”

“I want to,” Kara said. She paused. “Thanks. It just felt complicated.”

“Always does,” Clark said. He regarded her for a few seconds. “So who is she, then?”

Kara looked away. When she turned back, Clark was still looking at her, a little puzzled.

“Lenuthr,” Kara said, hurriedly.

Clark paused.

“Pardon?” he said. “I’ve got super-hearing, but it’s not that super.”

Kara hesitated a little more.

“Um, it’s sort of Lena Luthor,” she said.

It was one of the first times she’d seen Clark lost for words.

“She’s nothing like her brother,” Kara said, quickly. “She’s kind, and gorgeous, and smart, and strong, and-”

“I get it,” Clark said, chuckling. “Just caught me by surprise.”

“You don’t mind if I tell her?”

“If you trust her, I trust her,” Clark said.

Kara breathed a sigh of relief, and smiled at her cousin. That had been worrying her too.

Yes, she wanted advice from someone who’d been through this whole mess before, but there was more to it than that. She was dating the sister of her brother’s greatest foe.

If she was going to tell Lena the truth, her brother should know. It might be a bit too close for comfort.

Not that Kara knew what she’d have done if Clark hadn’t been happy about it. Then again, she knew to expect the best of her cousin.

“I should probably be getting back to National City,” Kara said. “Going to try again for dinner tonight.”

“Going to tell her?”

“I’ll try,” Kara said.

“Let me know how it goes,” Clark said. “And drop by any time.”

One sonic boom later and she was back in National City, sorting out her clothes.

Admittedly none of what she had to wear was fancy enough for the places Lena took her. Lena offered her a pick of a dizzying collection of dresses at her place, which was where Kara was off to next. Still, she wanted to look good for when she met her girlfriend.

Super-speed did make the preparations for a date much easier. Kara got everything done in a matter of minutes, flew to Lena’s house, neatened her hair, and knocked on the door.

“Kara,” Lena said. She smiled, leaning closer for an embrace and a kiss. “You’re early. Earlier than normal, I should say.”

“I know,” Kara said. “I- uh, I kinda wanted to talk.”

Lena raised her eyebrows. She stepped back, inviting Kara inside; Kara immediately went to a sitting room, gesturing for Lena to take a chair.

“If you’re going to break up with me, I’d suggest waiting until after dinner,” Lena said.

“No, no,” Kara said. “It’s not that.”

And then she was silent. Lena waited a few seconds, before speaking.

“Well?” Lena said.

Kara hesitated. She wasn’t particularly practised at telling people she was Supergirl, and it was all the harder when talking to someone she really cared about.

‘You look lovely today, oh and by the way I’m Supergirl.’ ‘Who has two thumbs and is an alien whose cousin your brother tried to kill?’ ‘Hi Lena! Thanks for the super dinner. Speaking of super…’

Kara had no idea how she was meant to have this conversation.

After a moment, she lifted one hand, and pulled her glasses off. Kara adjusted her poise, trying to mimic the one she normally took as Supergirl.

“You have 20/20 vision, that’s your secret?” Lena said.

“No,” Kara said, and stumbled again.

She glanced down. This time she’d worn something more like a suit than a dress. Normally, when meeting Lena, she wasn’t able to wear her Supergirl outfit underneath, especially if she was going to change here.

This time was different though. Kara gripped her shirt, and tore it open, ignoring the brief mental panic over whether or not she’d remembered to put on the costume.

After a moment, Kara peeked down. Sure enough, the S-symbol was displayed.

Lena was still regarding her, still somewhat casually.

“And that’s news?” Lena said.

Kara hesitated.

“You know?” Kara said.

“It wasn’t that hard,” Lena said.

“How did you _know_?” Kara said.

Somehow nerves had been replaced with a mix of bafflement and mild petulance.

“Apart from the time you said you flew to my office?” Lena said.

“Uh-”

“Or how you look literally exactly the same?” Lena said. “Or how you immediately got nervous when I mentioned an alien-detection device? Or how you’re always running off at the exact same time the news reports seeing Supergirl saving the day?”

Kara hesitated.

“Or the fact the first time I saw you, you walked into my office with Superman,” Lena said. “That was a hint too.”

“Walked in with- wait, that was Clark, he’s-”

“He’s Superman,” Lena said. “You know who my brother is, right? First chance he got, he ran a photo of Superman through facial recognition.”

“Wait, he did? Why didn’t he-”

“He figured it was easier to keep Superman working nine-to-five,” Lena said. “Your family really isn’t as good at keeping secrets as it thinks.”

Well, that was… easy. Easier than Kara had expected, at least.

Kara stared. Lena regarded her, rather unconcerned. 

“Relax,” Lena said. “The first thing I did when I took over L-Corp was delete the files like that on his personal computer.”

“Um, thanks?”

“You’re very welcome,” Lena said. “So, we were meant to be having dinner.”

Kara stared at Lena for a long few seconds more, slightly stunned. Of all the reactions she’d imagined to coming out as Supergirl, from awe to hate, a total lack of surprise wasn’t among them.

Lena stood. Slowly Kara did as well, beginning to move to the door-

And then Lena turned around, leaning closer to kiss her suddenly. It took a moment, before Kara blinked, and melted into it.

“Thank you,” Lena said, softer.

“Wh-what?” Kara said. Her brain was still replaying the last few seconds over and over.

Lena gave a fond smile at her expression, waiting a little time before Kara had refocused.

“For telling me,” Lena said. “I was wondering when you would: or if you would. If you saw Lex when you looked at me, or if you didn’t know.”

“I never thought you were like-”

“I know,” Lena said. Another smile, and she brushed some of Kara’s hair back over her ear. “Thank you for trusting me, Supergirl.”


End file.
